God's Action Plan - Zechariah's Surprise

Luke 1:5-25

Scene 1:

I have met some interesting people in my time.

Some of the most interesting have been people who really wrestle with what God wants.

Some clearly know what God wants and they spend their life being angry with God.

I remember one time when I had just started the journey of training for ministry I was visiting friends in Townsville.

We were all young adults in our early to mid 20s.

The Christian scene was pretty lively in Townsville and there were numerous places where people would meet up.

So I was up there for a bit of a holiday and as I was studying for ministry at the time I was sort of a bit of an attraction.

It seemed that some wanted to have conversations with me that they weren’t willing to have with their pastors.

One fellow asked me outright why friends of his couldn’t have a leadership role in the church.

He threatened to spit on me if I said it was because they were living in sin.

It only occured to me yesturday that perhaps he wasn’t asking for friends.

People often introduce a question about themselves and say, “I have a friend ......”

Anyway I told him that he had a problem with God and with the Bible if he couldn’t accept that the scriptures set a standard for leaders.

He was angry because the church and by implication God wouldn’t bend to his wishes.

I guess we have all met people who God has been chasing for years.

God has a clear direction for them to take and they keep fighting.

Others are so insistent that they must have a clear and precise revelation from the Lord before they will act on anything.

I knew one young man who has literally been driven to utter despair by false teaching and his unhealthy need to be totally in the will of God.

Every aspect of life for this fellow has to be specifically revealed by the Lord or else there is great risk of failure and doom.

Now hopefully none of us are like these two examples from both ends of the scale.

But what is our response to God’s plan for our lives?

Is it one of trust, even when God surprises us with something we don’t expect or even want?

Or do we need each little step fully mapped out for us before we will act?

Let’s take a look at a situation that was totally unexpected.

Scene 2:

In Luke 1:5–25 we read of a time when God totally surprised a man and his wife with news which they did not expect and had given up hoping for.

A faithful priest by the name of Zechariah, which means “Jehovah has remembered” and Elizabeth which means “God is my oath” are named as two people who lived blamelessly.

Luke uses the term blameless to describe Zechariah and Elizabeth in the same way as people, such as Noah (Gen 6:9), Abraham (Gen 17:1) and Job (Job 1:1) are described in the Old Testament.

They were good people.

Their only sorrow was that they had no family

To be childless was economically and socially disastrous:

Economically, because parents had no one to support them in old age

Socially, because in the law barrenness was sometimes a judgment for sin, and many people assumed the worst possible cause of a problem.

Most people assumed that barrenness was a defect of the wife, and Jewish teachers generally insisted that a man divorce a childless wife so he could procreate.

Contrary to conventional wisdom, however, Zechariah and Elizabeth are clearly righteous and the Jewish reader would immediately think of righteous Abraham and Sarah, who were also barren.

So Elizabeth is to have a child in her old age.

This is a miracle like the one that the Lord did for Rachel and Rebekah, and Hannah and Samson’s mother.

Elizabeth is especially like Sarah, who was not only infertile but also too old to bear.

But this surprise is not just about a baby.

It is about who this baby is to be.

This child will be a prophet! And no ordinary prophet, for their son would be the herald of the coming King!

No one had heard a prophetic Word from God for 400 years, not since Malachi had promised the coming of Elijah (Mal. 4:5–6).

The spiritual leaders were shackled by tradition and, in some instances, corruption; and their king, Herod the Great, was a tyrant.

He had nine (some say ten) wives, one of whom he had executed for no apparent reason.

But no matter how dark the day, God always has His devoted and obedient people.

Zechariah received this message from God right at the highlight of his career.

Due to the number of priests you only received the high honour of offering incense in the holy place once in a lifetime.

The incense was offered daily before the morning sacrifice and after the evening sacrifice, about 3 o’clock in the afternoon.

It was probably the evening offering that was assigned to Zechariah.

You may have noticed that God often speaks to His people and calls them while they are busy doing their daily tasks.

Both Moses and David were caring for sheep, and Gideon was threshing wheat.

Peter and his partners were mending nets when Jesus called them.

When we get busy, God starts to direct us.

Scene 3: Zechariah’s unbelief

When the angel Gabriel appeared right beside the altar as Zechariah was making an offering of incense and prayers to God.

Zechariah was frightened, for the angel’s appearance could have meant divine judgment.

Gabriel instructed him to name his son John (“Jehovah is gracious”) and to dedicate the boy to God to be a Nazarite all of his life (Num. 6:1–21).

He would be filled with the Spirit before birth (Luke 1:41) and would be God’s prophet to present His Son to the people of Israel (see John 1:15–34).

God would use John’s ministry to turn many people back to the Lord, just as Isaiah had promised (Isa. 40:1–5).

You would think that the presence of an angel and the announcement of God’s plan for Zechariah and Elizabeth to have a son would encourage Zechariahs’ faith.

But it didn’t.

Instead of looking to God by faith, the priest looked at himself and his wife and decided that the birth of a son was impossible.

He wanted some assurance beyond the plain words of God’s messenger.

This, of course, was unbelief, and unbelief is something God does not accept.

Zechariah was really questioning God’s ability to fulfil His own Word!

Had he forgotten what God did for Abraham and Sarah? (Gen. 18:9–15; Rom. 4:18–25)

Did he think that his physical limitations would hinder Almighty God?

Zechariah’s unbelief is judged and he was struck dumb (and possibly deaf, Luke 1:62) until God’s plan was fulfilled.

When he left the holy place, he was unable to give the priestly benediction to the people (Num. 6:22–27) or even tell them what he had seen.

For the next nine months Zechariah was silent.

Scene 4: Elisabeth believed

His wife hadn’t seen or heard of God’s plan.

And we have to assume that Zechariah wrote down what Gabriel had spoken because all we hear of her response is great joy.

The Lord had blessed Elizabeth and removed the cultural discrimination and disgrace, which she suffered as a result of not being able to bear children.

And as an added bonus she had received news that her son was evidence that the Messiah was coming!

In a way that she could only begin to appreciate, God was moving to fulfil his plan of action for the salvation of the world.

Elizabeth’s response to God’s plan of action was one of acceptance and joy.

Zechariah’s response was one of disbelief.

And he received the news firsthand from God’s messenger Gabriel.

Scene 5:

But before we criticize Zechariah too much, we need to ask ourselves.

What is my response to the surprises that God brings my way?

How to I react to the interruptions to my plans?

Do I demonstrate unbelief?

Or do I demonstrate a willing and trusting acceptance that what falls to me is somehow a part of God’s bigger plan?

Sometimes my part in God’s plan makes sense and sometimes it doesn’t.

But either way we need to realise that God is always worthy of our trust.

Sources:

Wiersbe, W. W. 1996, c1989. The Bible exposition commentary. "An exposition of the New Testament comprising the entire 'BE' series"--Jkt. Victor Books: Wheaton, Ill.

Keener, C. S., & InterVarsity Press. 1993. The IVP Bible background commentary : New Testament . InterVarsity Press: Downers Grove, Ill.